THE PROPOSED 'mid-season' player exchange period could open in the pre-season and run for six months, under a range of different options being considered by AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking.

Hocking said on Tuesday he was confident a new trade period would be introduced in 2019, but stressed that the nature of that period remained "a work in progress".

The League footy boss said one option that could be considered was introducing a trade window that opened in January and ran until June. 

Such a period would be reminiscent of the international trade windows that apply in soccer. In England, for instance, there will be two trade windows this season, the first running from June 9 to August 31 and the second from January 1-31, 2019. 

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"I'm fairly confident it will happen next year, it's just what form (it takes)," Hocking said.  

"We've got to get away from (the mindset that) a decision is made and it's done. The game changes and so it's a work in progress and it's something you continue to re-evaluate, consider and develop.  

"It could be, as an example, from January right through until June. That's one of the options, there are many options – it could be four days.  

"When is the best time for it? What does it look like? It's not a case of just making one decision in isolation. There are a range of things we need to consider.  

"And the players have to be considered in all of that, because they're the ones that potentially may need to move, and then the greater good of the game." 

Hocking said the proposed player exchange period would be one of the major items on the agenda of the newly formed Competition Committee, which will meet for the first time on May 10.